Thursday, November 20, 2008

Running again

Last night, as planned, I ran after work. I ran easy for just under 5 miles at just under a 10 mpm pace. I wore a reflective vest, bright colored clothing, a flashing red light on my back, and I had a headlamp and a handheld flashlight. I wanted to be as visible as possible after dark.

The only incident I had was some stupid teenagers who decided to yell at me as they went past in their pick-up truck. I need to get back to working out in the mornings, when there is more light. I've been enjoying the extra sleep since my marathon, but I need to get back to my routine of getting to bed early and waking up early.

I was planning to run after work again today, but I'm so sore I can barely walk. The only time I get really sore from lifting is when I do a tough squat day. I hadn't done squats for 3 weeks before my workout on Tuesday, and then I did a really tough workout. I was sore yesterday, but today it's way worse. It hurts to sit. It hurts to stand. There really isn't anything that doesn't hurt. Hopefully I'll be better by tomorrow. I was planning to run today and lift (upper body) tomorrow. Maybe I'll run tomorrow and lift on Saturday instead.

There's a great book called "Starting Strength" that really focuses on proper technique for a number of lifts. The chapter on squats is huge - 50+ pages. I have found that having my toes pointed out a bit is important to keeping my knees happy. Then, as I descend, I make sure my knees don't collapse towards each other. Going really low makes sure you hit as many muscles as possible. The quads don't really get hit hard at all if you're not getting down.